(L) Eiyuu Densetsu: Sora no Kiseki (Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky)

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Last night, japanese game developer Nihon Falcom updated their website due to their 30th anniversary announcing an "Original Animation" project based on their JRPG trilogy "Eiyuu Densetsu VI: Sora no Kiseki" (Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky in the west).

The animation project will be handled by Kinema Citrus (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, .hack//QUANTUM), with director Tachibana Masaki (.hack//QUANTUM) taking the helm, series composition and scripts by Ueza Makoto (Katanagatari) and character designs by Nozaki Atsuko (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0). There is still no confirmation whether this will be a full-blown TV series or simply an OVA project, but people who have purchased the first volume of the manga may opt to buy a limited set which will be including a short animated PV by the same staff.

In the peaceful town of Rolent of the Liberl Kingdom, a young girl named Estelle and her friend Joshua, who had been taken in by her family years earlier, prepare to take their first steps to join the legendary guild of the Bracers. Bracers are considered the peacekeepers and protectors of order that owe allegiance to no country or government. In Liberl their guild has flourished since a brief war some ten years prior after an invasion from the Erebonian Empire to the north, and their efforts have made peace a lasting prospect. In the course of their journey to become full-fledged Bracers, Estelle and Joshua begin to see the peace threatened by a dark side of the ruling government that plots to overthrow the Liberl queen, Alicia. Together they travel the world on their quest to become Bracers and slowly unravel the truth behind the mastermind who seeks to bring war back to their borders.

The "Legend of Heroes" series has been running ever since 1989, and Sora no Kiseki (Trails in the Sky) is its sixth installment, released originally in 2004, spanning three games on the PC which were later ported to the PSP. In 2010 Falcom started a new series named "Zero no Kiseki", which is a direct continuation of Sora no Kiseki, and has since then become Falcom's fastest selling title on the PSP, with over 80,000 copies sold on the first week. The "Sora no Kiseki" series as a whole has also recently passed the mark of one million games sold as well, taking into account all of its versions.

For those of you interested in playing the game, american publisher XSEED will be releasing the first game of the trilogy, called Eiyuu Densetsu VI: Sora no Kiseki FC (Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky), on March 29th, 2011 in the United States.

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Personally, looking forward to this! I've heard nothing but good things about these games from quite a few people, with some of them even hailing it as "the best JRPG experience ever". On the downside, the lack of confirmation of whether it's going to be a simple OVA or a full TV series does bother me. And if the latter, considering how epic the whole thing is, it'd probably require a huge count of episodes, and we all know how rare and in-between four cour shows are these days (unfortunately).

Sora no Kiseki is a PSP/PC JRPG. The game (part I) is originally released in 2004 in PC first, and then ported to PSP later. They are 4 games in the series - part I, II, and III of the original story, and then Zero no Kiseki (released in 2010). Wikipedia info:

^Thanks for the extra info! Ended up typing those paragraphs, but I guess it then makes it hard to shove in links, and I know some people just prefer the lite version because they can't be bothered to read, haha.

And man, there's still barely any information but I'm just excited with this. If it ends up getting a decent run and is well done, it could be just fantastic. In particular when it's just so rare to see good RPGs being adapted. I can only pray that they will do a good job.

Besides, any anime with Estelle is bound to be decent at the very least. Just look at her:

Spoiler for Image (size):

Just too cute! Twintails forever, haha.

Also, I do wonder who they'll be picking for the music. Falcom games are all very well known for their awesome music, and Sora no Kiseki is no exception. When you have stufflikethis, I guess it'd feel sort of bad if they simply ditched it for a new complete score. But I guess if the composer was willing to rearrange some tracks to work better on animated format, that would be for the best! And of course, new compositions are always welcomed.

Anyway, May cannot come soon enough so that we get that small PV and hopefully more information on the actual project.

Played through the first two games and Sora no Kiseki is definitely a great experience. Traditional but very polished PC JRPG.

Falcom is traditionally a low key and reserved company when compared to more well-known, flamboyant, and aggressive RPG creators like Square-Enix. Falcom creates quality games without a lot of hyping, and tends to create games in within their own terms.

I believe the only previous occasion that Falcom has ventured into anime is the Ys OAV (and that is a long time ago). Sora no Kiseki is Falcom flagship product. Let's hope the anime will be good, and I am looking forward to it.

This is great news indeed, color me pleasantly surprised. It has been a while since i finished playing Sora no Kiseki, but i remember having little besides very positive impressions. The story had a nmber of typical RPG elements indeed, but they were all polished and immersing, the world nicely fleshed out and the characters were quite engaging and likable. The way the plot unfolded wasn't anything shabby either, and as a package it definitely was one of the more enjoyable RPG experiences.

That said, i am quite worried about the would-be length of this anime. I can only hope it isn't an OVA of half a dozen episodes (because that would be a huge disservice to the story), but the potential length still remains as a concern. Sora no Kiseki is long ... and i do mean long. The single storyline spans two full-fledged RPG games (and a third, though this can be skipped with no damage to the core story), and is quite richly packed with developments. Even 24 episodes might be cutting it thin, and a single cour i can't even imagine without horribly (and by horribly i mean beyond recognition) cutting the story. And we all know how forthcoming studios have been lately with two-cour series

Still, it's far too early to cry doom and gloom, so i will remain cautiously optimistic about this. Even though the staff working on it hardly inspire confidence in me, but ah well ...

For those of you who might be interested in a bit more of information about the world where Sora no Kiseki takes place, XSEED has launched the official english website for the game and I reckon they did a very nice job with it. It's full of info on the setting and characters, all put together in a very creative way. Worth a check, to see what we can expect from the anime too!

That website is quite innovative indeed, don't see many of those nowadays. Good style and flavor, makes me nostalgic already I do hope the anime uses the PC designs for the characters though, rather than the PSP ones. Something about them simply sits better with me.

That said, i am quite worried about the would-be length of this anime. I can only hope it isn't an OVA of half a dozen episodes (because that would be a huge disservice to the story), but the potential length still remains as a concern. Sora no Kiseki is long ... and i do mean long. The single storyline spans two full-fledged RPG games (and a third, though this can be skipped with no damage to the core story), and is quite richly packed with developments. Even 24 episodes might be cutting it thin, and a single cour i can't even imagine without horribly (and by horribly i mean beyond recognition) cutting the story. And we all know how forthcoming studios have been lately with two-cour series

I will agree with you that a 24-episode will probably be needed to fully cover the series. I do think they can/should cut some corners in the sub-quests (as they are often for money and rank in the game ^^; ). Some of the sub-quests will look odd in a TV series as you want a good flow of story by jumping off doing something wacky in order to be "faithful" to the game.

I have faith Falcom will do a good job. They have a good track record in doing good plots.

Good news! Falcom Magazine Vol. 2's came out and it was announced in it that Falcom jdk band themselves will be involved on the Sora no Kiseki anime soundtrack. The magazine also had an interview with the anime's writer about the show, and while most of it seemed to be about the company (Falcom) itself, it seems they are still unsure of how they're going to tackle the project, because they admit it himself that the games are huge and there is no way to fit everything into the animated version. As such, there will most likely be a bigger focus on Estelle.

There aren't scans because it's an online magazine, but if anyone wants to buy it, you can do so here.

That said, great news. Falcom jdk band are easilly one of the most badass groups when VGM is concerned, so there's little concern about the soundtrack's quality. I am left wondering, however, whether or not they will be new arranges or already existing ones.

Alright Falcom. After you're done with the Legend of Heroes anime I really hope you'll start bringing Ys anime back again. 17-18 years are a long wait since Ys I & II... Those were instant classic and masterpiece in the good ol' days. Especially Ys II...

Alright Falcom. After you're done with the Legend of Heroes anime I really hope you'll start bringing Ys anime back again. 17-18 years are a long wait since Ys I & II... Those were instant classic and masterpiece in the good ol' days. Especially Ys II...

Falcom has plenty of other games that they can try to make an anime out it if they so desired . Most "modern" gamers and otaku probably are not too familiar with Ys. Ys is THE old school action RPG (most will probably only about Nintendo's Zelda). The first one made in 1980s, and the most recent from 2 years ago.

To consider the scope of (underrated) work that Falcom can probably animate, Sora no Kiseki itself is actually the third trilogy of the Legend of the Heroes series. The second trilogy (The White Witch - The Red Tears - The Songs of the Sea) is also very well known.

Falcom actually doing fine in japan. they still have dedicated fanbase (do no if it growing or declining thought, there sales pretty much same for past year) there and their game sales pretty much good.

it happens to be less popular in oversee because lack of support. hopefully XSEED agreement will make it much better